“Advocacy groups in the United States promote democracy and expand opportunity. » DiscussThe main functions of pressure groups are to represent, provide opportunities for participation and exercise additional control over the government. The promotion of democracy is therefore in their nature. Although in the United States, their functions may actually limit opportunities by favoring elites due to the great influence of select groups through the use of professional lobbyists; the excessive power of those in the iron triangles and the corrupt circumvention of regulatory legislation. Thus, despite their representation of minorities, promotion of mass participation and protection of citizens' constitutional rights, they fail to produce an overall democratic effect. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay It can be argued that pressure groups promote democracy because they provide opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process. AARP, a major U.S. advocacy group promoting the goals of older adults, has 38 million members. By joining AARP, all 38 million people became involved in the political process by supporting a group, because the representative body has such a large number of people that it suggests the group has expanded opportunities for large-scale participation and represents the views of a wide range of people. range of people. However, it cannot be assumed that members joined to participate in politics and take active steps to support the group or whether they simply joined for the material benefits of pressure groups, such as their discounts on pharmaceuticals, although joining a lobby group could be argued that they were considered participation. This therefore suggests that pressure groups expand opportunities and promote democracy. Additionally, pressure groups promoted the rights of smaller groups within society, expanding opportunities to social and political groups that might not otherwise have been represented by "umbrella parties." The ACLU promotes the rights of diverse groups. In recent years, she has successfully defended gay and lesbian rights in Supreme Court cases, such as Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. This is also supported by the fact that they took on the president's case Muslim Trump. 2017 travel ban case illustrates the lack of representation of minority groups by major political parties as the Republican president passed an executive order discriminating against people from majority-Muslim countries, as the case has was taken up by the ACLU which the group expanded. representation must cover the minority group. This shows that lobbying groups advance the democratic function of politics in the United States. It can be argued that by promoting minority rights pressure groups restrict the influence of majorities, this limits the extent to which pressure groups can be relied upon to expand opportunities. Additionally, pressure groups can be advanced to protect democracy by defending constitutional law. rights. The NRA was established to defend the American public's right to bear arms, under the Second Amendment. The group protected rights by blocking possible gun legislation proposed by President Obama in 2013. In defending the..